Theatre Age sex scandal: Court holds Zulfiqar guilty for sodomy

A local court on Thursday held non-governmental organisation (NGO) Theatre Age director Zulfiqar Khan, who was accused of indulging in group sodomy with children, guilty of sexually exploiting three boys. Zulfiqar was arrested in July last year on the complaint of Kanwarpal, his former student-cum-associate, for allegedly having unnatural sex with his students.

A local court on Thursday held non-governmental organisation (NGO) Theatre Age director Zulfiqar Khan, who was accused of indulging in group sodomy with children, guilty of sexually exploiting three boys.

Zulfiqar was arrested in July last year on the complaint of Kanwarpal, his former student-cum-associate, for allegedly having unnatural sex with his students.

The court of additional sessions judge JS Sidhu convicted him under sections 377 (unnatural sex) and (sale, distribution of obscene objects to young person) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It, however, acquitted Zulfiqar in two other cases since the complainants had turned hostile during the course of trial.

He was acquitted under section 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on Friday.

Besides, sections 5, 6 and 14 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, were also pressed against him.

NO REMORSE ON ZULFIQAR’S FACE

As the judge announced the order, there was no sense of remorse on Zulfiqar’s face. His wife, who was also present during the proceedings, appeared to be cold. None of the victims or the complainant were present during the proceedings on Thursday.

SEGREGATION OF CHALLANS

The court in December last year directed the UT police to segregate the challans of all five victims allegedly sodomised by Zulfiqar.

The police had earlier submitted a common 360-page challan carrying the victims’ statements and spelling out the torturous tales of their sexual exploitation, but the court asked for separate challans of the victims.

TWO WITNESS TURNED HOSTILE

In a major setback to the prosecution, two witnesses out of a total of five witnesses had turned hostile during the course of trial.

Deposing before the court, a 21-year-old had denied being sexually exploited by Zulfiqar. He claimed that he never gave any statement to the police. He said though the statement submitted before the judicial magistrate had his signature, it was in English which he was not well versed with.

Earlier, the victim through his counsel had stated that he was sodomised by Khan. The lone minor witness in case turned hostile in February this year, when he was examined in the child witnesses’ court.

Deposing before the court, the 16-year-old also denied being sexually exploited by Zulfiqar, claiming he was innocent. He said Zulfiqar never committed unnatural sex with him at his house in Sector 25.

He also denied that Zulfiqar showed him pornographic films as was alleged by the prosecution.

The minor had also deposed that he never visited the police station along with his parents.